The present invention relates to improvements and apparatus for slicing food products and arranging them in a stacked form of controlled weight; apparatus of this type is disclosed and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,903,032, granted Sept. 9, 1959, 3,099,304, granted July 30, 1963, 3,200,864, granted Aug. 18, 1965, 3,204,676, granted Sept. 7, 1965, 3,835,742, granted Sept. 17, 1974, 3,864,957, granted Nov. 12, 1974, 3,864,958, granted Nov. 12, 1974, 3,880,035, granted Apr. 29, 1975, 3,905,259, granted Sept. 16, 1975, 3,906,823, granted Sept. 23, 1975, 3,910,141, granted Oct. 7, 1975, 3,933,066, granted Jan. 20, 1976, 4,015,494, granted, Apr. 5, 1977, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 849,528 filed Nov. 7, 1977, abandoned in favor of continuation-in-part Application Ser. No. 92,195 filed Nov. 6, 1979 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 92,665 entitled Continuous Cold Cut Slicing Machine, filed Nov. 9, 1979, commonly assigned herein.
While apparatus of the type disclosed in these patents have proven to be satisfactory, it is desirable to upgrade their operation and efficiency and provide for improved continuous operation of such systems with the maximum amount of slicing of products and integrity of stack being realized. In addition, it is also desirable to maintain an improved control over the product being sliced throughout the slicing cycle thereby preventing the throw-off or splattering of product resulting in disruption of weighing process and inconsistency in stack weight.
Usually, in the conventional machines, the approach is to have a tractor metering feed belt throughout the entire length of the channel bed, with various hold-down devices incorporated to effectively control the loaf against pull by the blade and rotation as it is being sliced. Included therewith usually is a gripper assembly which utilizes vacuum suction and grips the tail end as a means of removing the butt end before it is splattered by the knife. The use of tractor metering feed is expensive, and in addition does not provide the most effective control of the slice, allowing splattering of the loaf which interferes with the weighing of the product, as aforementioned. This necessitates the cleaning of the machine on a relatively frequent basis thereby inhibiting the effective operation of a continuous machine.
In such conventional systems, the usual timer per slicing of a loaf is approximately 28 to 30 seconds, with a 10 second period necessary for retracting the gripper so that the next succeeding loaf could pass on to be fed into the slicing blade. The retraction time of the conventional systems is approximately 1/3 of the cutting time, and efficiency is lost due to idleness of the machine during this period.
In commonly assigned application Ser. No. 92,665 entitled Continuous Cold Cut Slicing Machine, there is disclosed a means of providing a free wheeling gripper assembly which serves to improve slicing operation. While the system can effectively provide for continuous slicing, it has become desirable to provide additional features thereon to improve its operation.
Also, incorporation of the profile compensation control system, as disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 92,195 in the present system, while effective, is improved through the use of a means of determining in the exact location of the tail end of the loaf being sliced, to provide accuracy in determining when the rear count should begin.